Painting Tutorial: Ear of Corn

Who else is as ready for Fall as I am?! I love this time of year when Fall decor starts popping up in stores, smacking you right in the face with inspiration for crafty Fall projects to make, even if it is still hot outside, like it is here in Sacramento. For me, this time of year symbolizes the start of the holiday season. A few months of one holiday after the next, including my birthday, although that usually gets hijacked by Thanksgiving (is it really too much to ask for a whole day that's all about ME? Haha). So, in the spirit of Fall, I decided I would bring you guys a tutorial on how to paint something Fall-themed. The natural first thought would probably be a pumpkin, but I'm weird, so I'm showing you how to paint some corn instead (that could very easily be paired with a painting of a pumpkin, which may possibly be a tutorial you will see here soon).

Before I get started, I want to first say that I do my paintings on thick cardstock, which I cut out and scan onto the computer. This makes it so that I can open it in Photoshop and use it in multiple mixed media prints. Since I know I will be cutting it out, I tend to be a sloppy - no, very sloppy - painter. So please, oh please, do not follow my lead on the sloppiness factor, unless you plan on cutting yours out as well.

Alright, let's get started, shall we? First, I started by painting a base coat of brown in the shape of an ear of corn. I highly recommend doing a base coat because 1.)yellow paint tends to be fairly translucent, and 2.) you will more than likely end up with some gaps in between the kernels and you don't want white, or the background color of your painting, showing through.

Next, I mixed some yellow and white paint for the kernels. I didn't thouroughly mix the two colors because I wanted some variation in color between the kernels. Starting in the middle at the top, I painted rows of ovals.

Here, I have almost all of the rows finished. I added some more of the base coat color around the edges so I could paint some extra kernels to give it a bumpy texture on the side.

And here are all of the rows painted. Again, you won't want yours to look as sloppy unless you are cutting it out.

Once all of the kernels were painted, I mixed some white with my yellow mixture to get a very pale yellow and I painted a highlight on the upper right edge of all the kernels.

Next, I mixed some of the brown base coat with a tiny smidgeon of black paint and painted a lowlight on the bottom left edge of every kernel. Now we are starting to get some dimension going.

Last step for the kernels is to add just a little dot of white paint to the upper right edge to really make them pop.

Now, onto the husk. I drew out the shape I wanted then painted it with a mix of green, yellow, and white.

Then, I added a little bit of black to the paint mixture and painted where the shadows would be. I wanted to make the stalk shorter than I originally planned, so the shadow midway down the stalk is really the bottom of the stalk.

To add a little texture to the stalk, I used an old brush that had hard, fanned out bristles to add streaks of pale yellow to the husk, making sure to go the direction of the husk.

And for the last painting step, I added some shadows to the corn around the edges where the husk is.

Here's a picture of the corn all cut out.

And there ya have it! I would love to see pictures of what you guys come up with =) Or if you like the idea, but don't see yourself ever trying to paint one for yourself, you can purchase one of my prints here.

Simply Grateful Fall Wreath

I had every intention of writing this post a few weeks ago, but life happened and here I am posting this just a few days before everyone is in full-on Christmas mode. I do have to admit that I've listened to my share of Christmas music on the radio already, buuuuut I've been too ashamed to listen when my windows are down, so I'm not quite to the point of listening strictly to Christmas music.

But back to my Fall wreath, I had the grapevine wreath already, so I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some Fall picks. I knew I wanted to add more to it, so I went to Michael's and found the ribbon and the 'Simply Grateful' sign. It really spoke to me because I truly have so much to be grateful for this year and figured it would be the perfect reminder every time I walked up to the front door.

I think this green gourd is my favorite thing on the wreath. Love the color!

Good Buy: Galvanized Bowls

As I've mentioned probably a gajillion times by now, I love getting good deals. It make my heart happy and fills me with pure joy, but I realized it makes me even happier to tell people about my awesome deals, which is why I decided to share them with you fine folks.

The two stores I score the best deals at are Kohl's and Sears. I don't know how it happened, but I randomly started receiving $10 off coupons in the mail for Kohl's. The great thing is that the minimum purchase is $10 before tax. And with Sears, I signed up for their Shop Your Way program, which is a free program where you earn points for every purchase you make. They email offers fairly regularly, although I tend to just use the deals where the minimum purchase is low. JC Penny also mails out $10 off a $10 or more purchase coupons, but those tend to be a bit more sporadic.

So, moving on to the Good Buy, I received a $10 off coupon from Kohl's a few weeks ago and couldn't wait to go shopping (they usually mail it several days before it's valid). I usually hit up the jewelry section first, but I didn't find anything there, so I moved onto the home section. I've really been into galvanized metal lately, so I was super excited when I found some galvanized metal strap bowls.

Would you guys believe the original price was $29.99?? Maybe I'm just stingy, but I thought that seemed a little steep. And for reference, the bowls measure 12.25" wide by 4.5" high. Fortunately for me, they were half off at $14.99, plus, I had the $10 off coupon. On top of that, they were having 10% off 'Save the Tax' sale, so with tax, the final price was $4.85. My mom told me I could have her coupon, so I went back to get the second one the next day. They were understaffed and lines were long, so on top of the sale, coupon, and extra 10% off, they were also taking an extra 15% off for the long wait, so I got the second bowl for $4.11. So, what should have cost $60 before tax, ended up costing $8.96 after tax!

I'm thinking these would look great on the dining room table, filled with mini pumpkins and little bits of chartreuse moss. You just might be seeing some pics of that in a month or two =)

What great deals have you found recently?

Printable Owls

Who is ready for Fall? *Raises hand* Unfortunately, the 90+ degree weather is still going strong in Sacramento, with no signs of letting up. But whenever I get sad by the thought that Fall doesn't really start here until mid November, I head over to Michael's and look at the Fall aisles. That makes me happy.

I have this irrational idea that if I start working on Fall crafts, the cool weather and changing leaves will come, so I decided to make some owl printables to share with you guys. I left them plain so they can be used as coloring pages for kids (and adults too - I don't judge). You could even cut the pieces out to use as patterns, trace them onto patterned paper, then assemble it all for some cute Fall decorations. Then you could use real buttons for the eyes. Cute!

Please Note: These are copyrighted images and are intended for personal, non-commercial use only.

http://lilluna.com/link-party-palooza-105/

Dream Closet

I was recently browsing Compass, a real estate platform based in NY, and it got me thinking about what's important to me as far as closet space. I don't have expensive taste. In fact, I love a good bargain. While some people would love to have a tv in their closet, I would rather watch tv on a comfy sofa. Many women would probably drool at the sight of a two story closet with space for hundreds of pairs of shoes that are organized by color, but you can usually find me in a pair of flip flops...or tennies...or boots, if I'm feeling fancy. The one thing that I do have an issue with is accessories.

As I said, I love a good bargain, which usually involves necklaces (many of which I've gotten for FREE or a few dollars. Score!), scarves, purses, and sunglasses, so my dream closet would have to have plenty o' storage for those things. Rather than having everything tucked away in drawers and bins, I decided to have things displayed on hooks. That way, it's easy to see everything at once.

When I was trying to come up with a style for my closet, I thought it would only make sense to match my beachy bedroom decor. I used some of my necklaces (below) as the color inspiration.

The blue and green necklace was one of the first necklaces I ever bought. It reminded me of the ocean and I just had to have it. Although I've never been much of a fan of the color coral, I loved that that necklace looked like coral (as in the ocean coral =) ) and I snagged it for just a few dollars.

I threw together a mood board of some of the elements of my dream closet. The walls would be a green grasscloth wallpaper. I just love the textural element of grasscloth and the color was perfect. I brought in some wardrobes for practical storage purposes, but also used some baskets and a wicker trunk for pretty storage. The driftwood mirror was a must because I love the texture and raw look of it, and set it above a bluish green dresser. The coral lamps were perfect for bringing in the coral color, while adding a touch of whimsy. I had to add an ottoman because, well, picking out outfits and accessorizing said outfits can be downright exhausting. The rug pulls together the bluish green and the coral with just a bit more whimsy (hello, giant sand dollar). And last, but not least, the capiz shell chandy. I've always been a fan of mixing and matching (rustic with refined, traditional with contemporary, etc.), so I love having this elegant chandelier paired with the rustic mirror and textured coral lamps. And really, I think every closet, big or small, deserves a chandelier.

I whipped up a little floor plan view of my closet to give a feel for the space. You walk in some double doors and the entry is flanked by 9' of wardrobe on either side. Beyond that is the ottoman (aka the being-a-female-and-trying-to-look-good-is-exhausting-so-I'll-just-take-a-break-right-here ottoman), and then the dresser.

And of course I had to throw in an elevation to show my glorious wall of hooks. Does anyone else get super excited to see their accessories all out in the open?

All in all, I would say my dream closet is fairly simple. No bells and whistles or anything extravagant. The only thing out of the ordinary that I would want is my own secret vault of candy. I thought I was the only one guilty of going in my closet to eat candy and not have to share with my son, but I've learned by talking to other moms that this is more common than you would think =) So tell me, what would you want in your dream closet?

Teacher Appreciation Week Door Decor

I'm sure if you have school-aged kids, you know that next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I absolutely LOVE my son's teacher. You can tell she truly loves teaching and really cares for the kids, so I took it upon myself to decorate her door to show my appreciation. I chose to do it after school so she would be surprised by it on Monday morning. Hopefully it will inspire anyone who wants to do something last minute =)

I started by cutting out a flower on my Silhouette to use as a template. I'm just going to take a quick second to whine and complain that I wish they originally came out with the machine for 12x12 papers. My machine is big enough for the 8.5x11 papers, but it really limits the size you can make things. Having said that, I had to use the template to cut out the flowers from 12x12 paper. I also cut out some smaller flowers from patterned papers that I glued onto the larger flowers. I then cut out white circles for the center of the flowers. I made 30 leaves and wrote a student's name on each leaf, which I found two on the floor when I got home so I'll be going back on Monday to glue them back on, haha. The watering can was sketched and cut out of cardstock and I added a heart to jazz it up. I used my Silhouette to cut out the letters and used a different font and colors for the word 'blossom'.

I love how it turned out and hope the teacher does too =)

Beach Design Inspiration

I was recently asked by a designer to pick an inspiration photo and create a design board based on the photo. One of the first things I learned when I started school for interior design was that there are design themes and there are design concepts. A theme is as literal approach to a design, whereas a concept is not literal and has to do with the overall feel. Since I'm bad at explaining things, I'll give an example. If someone said they are looking for a design that would remind them of their vacations at the beach, you could do a theme and go all out with beach decor OR you could do a concept and pull colors and textures from the beach and use them in your design, with a few fun beachy accessories =) I decided to go with a concept for this living room design.

First, here is my inspiration photo that I got from the internet (don't remember what website I got it from):

And this is what I came up with:

As far as the furniture, I wanted to use a mix of rustic and refined. I went a little more formal with the tufted sofa and I love how the color picks up on the green of the rocks, but it still also looks brown. I chose a light finish for the coffee table and sideboard to pick up on the color of the sand. The finish on the coffee table is rustic, yet the form picks up on the shape of the feet on the sofa and chair. I went with a relaxed feel for the side tables, playing up the texture with the bumpy rattan side table and the smooth Chinese garden stools, which reminded me of clam shells. Both of the pillow fabric have a coral motif, but the pattern of the sofa pillows is more subtle. For the drapery fabric, I pulled the colors out from the inspiration photo, but I didn't want to do a literal pattern, so I chose a paisley, and paired it with bamboo blinds. The chandelier shape is a bit formal, but I felt that the capiz shells added a touch of whimsy. The sideboard has a big porthole mirror hanging above, and for decoration, I added a metal bin and some gold coral. When I saw the seaweed in the inspiration photo, it instantly made me think of brown glass jugs because the seaweed has a smooth, shiny surface. For the artwork above the sofa, I wanted to stick with neutral colors, so I found the antique print of sea urchins. I put some swing arm lamps on either side, but they looked plain, so I framed them and backed the frames with textural grasscloth, so now they have more presence. I wanted to keep the coffee table simple, so I added a giant, cast iron clam shell for decoration.